President Donald Trump signs an executive order
Photo: the United States Senate – Office of Dan Sullivan
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, MANAGING EDITOR
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 21 threatening how St. Bonaventure University and all other colleges and universities in America operate with diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
On his second day in office, Trump signed the Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity executive order.
“Institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘Diversity, equity and inclusion’ or ‘Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility’ that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation,” reads the order. “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Despite this, it’s unclear how the order may affect Bonaventure, said Jeff Gingerich, university president.
“We’re still waiting,” said Gingerich. “We’re still trying to figure out what it means. A lot of the new changes are going to affect public universities in a different and probably more profound way.”
However, if the federal government threatens to withhold funding from colleges and universities that do not eliminate their DEI policies, Gingerich said Bonaventure will be forced to choose funding.
“We rely very heavily on federal financial aid so all our students can afford to come to St. Bonaventure,” said Gingerich. “If there would be any adjustments we’d need to make in order for that to happen, we would need to make them in order to retain that funding.”
But until that time comes, Gingerich said Bonaventure will continue its DEI mission.
“I don’t see us ever stopping our momentum to increase in education around what it means to provide a place of belonging at St. Bonaventure,” said Gingerich. “We don’t do DEI work in spite of the fact that we’re Catholic and Franciscan. We do it because we’re Catholic and Franciscan. Those go hand in hand. Part of our mission is making sure that everyone is treated as children of God.”
Over the past three years, Bonaventure has invited several DEI-focused speakers to campus — such as Lori Quigley, Mark Talley and CJ Gross — to discuss their experiences. Despite federal pressures, Gingerich said the university plans to continue inviting these speakers and holding similar events.
“We don’t have any intention of stopping that; we need to continue to educate ourselves around these issues,” said Gingerich. “It’s really frustrating because we’re trying to do really positive work that not only creates the most welcoming environment that we can on campus, but that protects our students, faculty and staff.”
Departments such as Bonaventure’s Equity Institute find themselves in the crosshairs of the executive order. The institute’s mission is to ignite diversity, equity and inclusion experiences for Bonaventure, according to its website.
“My responsibility is and always will be to maintain a sense of belonging on this campus,” said Jessica Foskolos, the institute’s coordinator. “I do not understand how anyone can determine that as anything other than not only legal but absolutely a mandatory obligation.”
Although the university doesn’t use race-based affirmative in its admissions process, it identifies as an “affirmative action and equal opportunity educational institution,” in its hiring practices according to university job descriptions.
“At this point, we don’t believe that the executive order would outlaw the way that we do either employment or admissions here,” said Gingerich. “Because we do it based on need instead of race, they’re still allowable under the new executive orders.”
The university’s DEI programs are essential to the university’s mission, said Gingerich.
“There’s no political agenda behind our DEI policies,” said Gingerich. “It’s about following through on our Franciscan mission to foster education and create a sense of belonging.”
scibild22@bonaventure.edu
